


Northern Star

by rochke11



Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Delinquents not sent to earth, F/F, Minor Character Death, Polaris became part of the ark, Setting: The Ark
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-02-28
Updated: 2016-02-28
Packaged: 2018-05-23 20:32:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,784
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6129163
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rochke11/pseuds/rochke11
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What if Polaris became the 13th station of the Ark?</p>
<p>“Their hands met, separated by the glass wall, as Clarke’s wild eyes sought refuge in Lexa’s, her northern star, her true north.  They were so close.  Raven had been certain she’d be able to figure it out before Clarke’s birthday.  But they were too late.  Clarke hadn’t been pardoned and Raven hadn’t solved the problem. Lexa felt her heart being torn from her chest, confronted by the fact that she was about to watch the person she loved more than anything in the world, get pushed out into space, air sucked from her lungs.”</p>
<p>Clarke Griffin and Lexa Woods met on Unity Day, eight months before Clarke’s eighteenth birthday.  They had eight months of falling in love and growing happy.  Of finding out the truth behind the 13th station that made up the Ark, Lexa’s home station of Polaris.  A truth that led to Clarke finding herself in an airlock, about to be floated for crimes against the government.  Crimes of truth that she did not commit alone.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Northern Star

**Author's Note:**

> Originally, this was going to be a one-shot, but then the plot got away from me and it turned into a big story that I just HAD to tell.

_Leaving Polaris station wasn’t as easy as it was to leaving any of the other stations. While twelve of the thirteen stations that made up the Ark were so interconnected that it was easy to transition between them seamlessly, Polaris Station was an outlier. It was almost as if it was a last minute addition to the Ark, attached to the rest of civilization through single chute that often was under repair._

_Lexa and her other classmates had missed school on multiple occasions over the years simply because repairs had prevented them from leaving Polaris._

_While she was never one to believe in a higher power, Lexa prayed to whatever god may exist that on September 9th, 2149, the chute attaching Polaris to the rest of the Ark would be operable._

_She’d overheard the news from a guard, saying that Council Member Griffin’s daughter was to be floated, and that’s what had spurred Lexa into action._

_Lexa sprinted through the hallways, away from Polaris station. She pushed her way through a trio of guards and ignored their yells. Her world was about to fall apart. All that mattered to Lexa was making her way to Arrow Station and the airlock._

_The chute was in working order, and she made her way down it in record time._

_It wasn’t supposed to happen like this._

_She did her best to weave through the population of the Ark as she rushed through the space station that held what she had once thought had held the last of humanity. She didn’t apologize to anyone she ran into._

_Lexa ignored the demands of the guards to halt as she reached the execution chamber, barreling past Abby Griffin and Chancellor Jaha._

_Across the room from her was the girl she loved. Clarke Griffin. Her blonde hair was wild, strands pulled from her braid and her shirt slightly ripped at the seams. She’d obviously put up a fight. Today was Clarke’s eighteenth birthday. She was supposed to be pardoned._

_It wasn’t supposed to happen like this._

_Nothing could stop Lexa from sprinting across the room to Clarke. Not when her blue eyes started filling with tears the moment Lexa entered the room. Not when Lexa hadn’t seen Clarke weeks. Not when Clarke was standing alone in a glass chamber, about to be unjustly executed._

_Lexa stopped at the glass wall and Clarke rushed forward to meet her. Lexa’s eyes stayed trained on Clarke’s, memorizing each shade of blue, while Clarke’s scanned Lexa’s body, making sure she was okay. That she wasn’t hurt in anyway._

_Lexa lifted up her hand to the glass and Clarke mirrored her action. Their hands met, separated by the glass wall, as Clarke’s wild eyes sought refuge in Lexa’s, her northern star, her true north._

_The brunette was unaware of the fact that she’d been crying, until she tasted the salt of her tears on her lips._

_“I love you,” Lexa sobbed, eyes boring into the girl behind the glass. She couldn’t even blink, despite her tears, not wanting to miss any of Clarke’s final moments._

_“I love you too,” Clarke mouthed back. The glass was sound proof, so Lexa was forced to read the blonde’s lips._

_They were so close. Raven had been certain she’d be able to figure it out before Clarke’s birthday. But they were too late. Clarke hadn’t been pardoned and Raven hadn’t solved the problem. Lexa felt her heart being torn from her chest, confronted by the fact that she was about to watch the person she loved more than anything in the world, get pushed out into space, air sucked from her lungs._

_Out of the corner of her eye, Lexa saw Chancellor Jaha approach the button that would release Clarke into space._

_“Just look at me,” Lexa spoke, trying to steady her shaky voice. Clarke’s eyes were wild with fear and the last thing Lexa wanted was for Clarke’s last moments to only have fear in them. She needed to be strong for her. “I’m here Clarke. Don’t look away from me.”_

_“I don’t want to die,” Clarke’s lip quivered as Lexa read her lips._

_Jaha lifted the covering from the button. Clarke turned to look, but Lexa shook her head._

_“Just stay focused on me,” she insisted, finding more strength in her voice. It was all an act for Clarke though. On the inside, she was breaking in two. “I love you.”_

_Even without watching, Lexa knew that Jaha had lifted his hand, that he was readying to press the button. Lexa took a deep breath and concentrated on Clarke’s face. The mole above her lip. Her button nose. The dimples that weren’t visible at the moment, but that Lexa knew existed. And her eyes, her perfect eyes that Lexa had found truth and love in. Eyes that were about to be wretched from her life in a heartbeat._

_There was a clamor behind Lexa. Clarke’s eyes widened, but Lexa kept hers on Clarke._

_“Wait!”_

 

* * *

 

**_Eight Months Earlier…_ **

Clarke Griffin knew Lexa Woods, of course she did. The Ark didn’t have a large population, less than three thousand, and Lexa was only a year ahead of Clarke in school. She didn’t see her often, after all, Clarke was from Alpha Station and Lexa was from Polaris Station, but Clarke definitely knew who Lexa was.

Despite the fact that Clarke knew who Lexa was, she never actually spoke a word to her until Unity Day, eleven months before she turned eighteen.

Clarke knew five things for certain about Lexa, before they first spoke.

_First_ , she was smart. She wasn’t an engineering genius like Raven Reyes, Jake Griffin’s apprentice, but Clarke knew that Lexa had won several awards in school, and despite being from Polaris station, she would probably end up becoming a council member.

_Second_ , her girlfriend, Costia, was sent to the Skybox two years earlier. Clarke wasn’t sure why. She knew she could find out if she really wanted to, but she wanted to respect the privacy of both girls.

_Third_ , she has multiple tattoos. Her arm one was one Clarke had seen on multiple occasions, as well the one on the back of her neck, but she’d only gotten a glimpse of her back tattoo once, by accident, at the gym. She wasn’t sure what it was, but she wish she knew.

_Fourth_ , she was an artist. Clarke found that one out by accident. Clarke had had Earth Skills class after Lexa and had seen her drop her notebook. It had opened to a page full of doodles, elaborate doodles. Realistic drawings of her classmates. Lexa hadn’t noticed her staring at them.

_Fifth_ , she was a nightblood. Clarke found that one out by accident as well. She and Wells had been alone in the school rec room, playing chess, when Lexa had entered. She had been flustered, clearly expecting the room to be empty, and had quickly exited, but not before scraping herself against a wall. When she and Wells left an hour later, Clarke had seen the still sticky, black blood Lexa had left behind. She was one of the mysterious few, all from Polaris Station, who had been born with the genetic anomaly that Abby had spent a lot of time investigating with little results.

Whenever Clarke thought about the five things she knew for certain about Lexa, she was confronted by the fact that nearly everything she knew, she’d found out by accident. Lexa wasn’t one to share things openly. And maybe that was what intrigued Clarke most.

Wells, of course, was the first to call Clarke out on having a crush on the older girl. Of course he would figure it out before Clarke. He was her best friend and often saw things a bit more clearly than she did. It was just a simple crush though. She was attracted to Lexa sure, who wouldn’t be, but she really didn’t know her.

Clarke had two years left of school before she could really get into training under her mother to become a doctor, so when it came to Unity Day, she was most definitely going to attend the Unity Day dance with the rest of the teenagers on the Ark.

The theme was Masquerade and Clarke had spent several days working on her and Wells’ masks. Wells was useless when it came to art. He was more logical than creative, but she didn’t mind making his for him.

Clarke and Wells were one of the first to arrive at the Unity Day Celebration Dance. Something that wasn’t surprising at all. Sure, they did their fair share of partying, mostly by Clarke’s insistence, but they weren’t exactly the most popular kids. They weren’t the teens who would pregame with illicitly-made moonshine and show up late.

If someone were to spike the punch, sure they’d drink several cups of it, but they didn’t seek out trouble more than they had to.

Luckily, the two best friends didn’t have to wait long for the party to get started. Teens started arriving as soon as the music started playing. Clarke could tell that a high percentage of the party goers were at least a little bit tipsy, but so far nobody was belligerent enough to attract the attention of the cadet guards who were in charge of watching them all that night.

After watching a boy wearing goggles in lieu of a mask pour something into the punch, Clarke left Wells temporarily to get them a cup each of what she assumed to be now spiked punch.

One sip of the concoction confirmed Clarke’s suspicions. After removing the cup from her lips, the boy in the goggles and a boy beside him both gave her a thumbs up. She smiled and nodded towards them before turning away, missing the disappointed looks on their faces.

As Clarke made her way back to Wells, she noticed him talking to an unknown girl. Not wanting to interrupt, she decided to wander around a bit. She accidentally knocked into a girl with a dark ponytail spinning around alone, hands thrown up into the air, before making her way off the dance floor and closer to the edge of the room.

Clarke sang along and danced a bit to the music, not minding the fact that she was by herself. She kept an eye on Wells and the girl he was talking to. Whatever they were talking about seemed to be interesting Wells and lately Clarke had been on a mission to get her best friend a girlfriend, or at the very least laid.

What took Clarke away from the sight of her friend enjoying himself was the arrival of a late-coming trio. All three were the year above her, but she recognized them nevertheless. They weren’t wearing masks. Instead, they were wearing face paint.

On anyone else, it would have looked ridiculous, but not on them. It didn’t obscured their identities, but it was a badass take on the masquerade theme. Each of their paint was slightly different. Anya’s mostly just surrounded her eyes. Lincoln’s wasn’t quite as dark as the other two’s, a vertical stripe running on each eye from forehead to cheek bone. Lexa’s face paint, however, was what Clarke focused on. Mostly because it illuminated her green eyes.

Or maybe because it made her look almost like a raccoon.

She must have been staring too long, because Anya caught on and glared at her. She approached her and Clarke gripped her cup tightly.

“Something wrong?” Anya asked, arms crossed over her chest.

“No,” Clarke shook her head. Anya was intimidating, but Clarke was willing to let her know that she thought so. “I was actually admiring your…creative take on the masquerade theme.”

“Thank you Clarke,” Lincoln responded for Anya. They had their art class together, the only one offered on the Ark, it wouldn’t surprise Clarke if Lincoln was behind the creative decision.

“Whatever, I’m getting a drink,” Anya shrugged before walking off, Lincoln close behind her.

“I really like yours Lexa,” Clarke added before Lexa could follow her friends. It must’ve been the booze that had prompted her to speak to the brunette.

“Thanks,” Lexa offered the blonde a slight smile. “Uhh, Clarke?”

“Oh, yeah,” Clarke laughed, lifting up her homemade mask to reveal her face. “I’m not sure we’ve ever actually met. I’m Clarke. Clarke Griffin.” She extended her free hand, grateful to have chugged Wells’ cup of booze earlier.

Lexa hesitantly reached out her own hand and shook Clarke’s.

“Nice to officially meet you Clarke,” a smirk played on her lips, an expression Clarke couldn’t entirely read. “I’m Lexa, but it seems like you already knew that.”

“I…” Clarke stuttered, sure she was blushing. “Yeah, I did.” She figured she was better off admitting to it than trying to deny it.

“Well I should go catch up to my friends,” Lexa gestured to where Lincoln and Anya had walked away. Clarke nodded and Lexa turned around. She took a few steps forward and over her shoulder she spoke. “For the record Clarke, I knew who you were too.”

 

* * *

 

Even before Lexa Woods spoke her first words to Clarke Griffin, she knew five things for certain about her.

_First_ , she was smart, but teachers gave her more credit than she deserved. Pike during Earth Skills had spoken about Clarke, stating that she was a great student, but later that day, Lexa had seen Clarke with her best friend, Wells Jaha. Wells was giving her his homework to copy and Clarke was promising to make it up to him. Lexa didn’t think Clarke knew Wells was not just doing it because he was her friend, but because he had a massive, obvious crush on her.

_Second_ , she was the daughter of Councilperson Griffin. It wasn’t very profound information, something everyone people knew, but it was a fact nevertheless.

_Third_ , she loved to play chess. Almost every time she walked in on Clarke in the rec room, whether it was crowded or not, she was always playing chess. Most often with Wells, but often with her father as well.

_Fourth_ , she was an artist. One day after Earth Skills, she’d dropped her notebook and had seen Clarke staring at her drawings appreciatively. She knew Clarke was an artist as well when she glimpsed the cover of Clarke’s own notebook.

_Fifth_ , she cared. Lexa had watched Clarke stand up for people on multiple occasions. She’d never heard her gossip about anyone, and whenever people talked about Clarke, they might say that she was a Princess, never having to have ever worried about anything, but no one ever said that she thought of herself as above anyone before.

When Clarke introduced herself to Lexa at the Unity Day Masquerade Dance, Lexa had toyed with the idea of not letting Clarke know she knew who she was, but those blue eyes had sucked her in. Because of course she knew who Clarke was. How couldn’t she?

If she weren’t on a strict no-crush policy thanks to Costia, Lexa knew she would be crushing on the blonde. But she couldn’t. Sure, Clarke was incredibly attractive and maybe she’d stared at her boobs once or twice, but crushing was off limits.

The last time she’d had a crush, she’d fallen in love and gotten her heart broken. Never again.

Lexa was only half-listening to Lincoln and Anya as she sipped on her punch. Punch that was definitely spiked.

She sighed, more relieved than she should have been when the lights turned on and the music stopped, an announcement playing over the speakers, “Solar Flare Alert.”

At least now she wouldn’t be forced to remain at the dance any longer.

As Lexa searched around her pocket for her ID chip, she noticed a cadet guard running towards a girl standing not far from her wearing a dress that seemed just a little too small. Even behind her mask, she looked scared. Not of the cadet though, but rather of the announcement.

That surprised Lexa. Surely the girl had had to go through this process hundreds of times before. They all had. Lexa looked around and was surprised to find Clarke watching the same girl with a confused expression on her face as well.

She watched as the cadet led the girl towards the exit, only to immediately turn around as the guards entered the room. Whoever the girl was, the cadet was protecting her, because she wasn’t allowed to be there.

If it hadn’t been for Costia, then Lexa might not have put the dots together. Might not have realized why the two were acting so strangely.

“Masks off, ID chips out,” Lieutenant Shumway announced as he entered the room, leading the guards.

The scared girl was the only one who didn’t take her mask off and Lexa was assaulted by memories of Charlotte. Charlotte and Costia. She saw the two girls clear as day as she watched the cadet and the girl search around for an exit.

Lexa saw the trap door across the room and knew there was only one thing she could do. She wasn’t usually so impulsive, but she couldn’t bare the thought of what happened to Costia and Charlotte happen to anyone else.

She immediately dropped the cup she had been holding and sped-walked towards the girl and the cadet, trying not to draw attention to herself.

“But Bell, how do I get home?” Lexa heard the girl ask in a scared, pleading voice. Her question confirmed Lexa’s suspicions.

“I can get her out of here,” Lexa addressed the cadet, Bell she assumed.

The cadet turned around to face her, face filled with confusion. “Excuse me?”

Guards were working their way around the room and Lexa knew she had only moments left before they reached them and asked for the girls ID chip, a chip Lexa knew she didn’t have.

“Come with me,” Lexa insisted. She grabbed the girl’s arm and dragged her across the room to the panel she’d spotted earlier, right next to where Clarke Griffin was standing.

She hadn’t noticed it because she was staring at Clarke. No, not at all.

Clarke was still standing there, however, ID chip in hand. A stickler for the rules, obviously. She was a Councilperson’s daughter.

Clarke didn’t notice Lexa approach and Lexa used this to her advantage. She sidled up alongside her, causing Clarke to startle and turn towards her.

“I need to get into the panel beside you, so I need you to move,” Lexa spoke, quickly looking over her shoulder to make sure the illegally-born girl was still with her.

“What?” Clarke asked, shocked.

“I need you to move and not attract attention,” Lexa repeated. Clarke moved slightly to the side, clearly still in shock, and Lexa opened the panel wide enough so that it wasn’t obvious what she was doing, but still wide enough to fit through.

“You can’t leave!” Clarke insisted.

“We have to,” Lexa bore her eyes into Clarke’s. Clarke looked over Lexa’s shoulder at the other brunette, nervously looking all around them. Lexa quickly entered the space behind the panel and gestured for the girl to follow.

She watched as the girl started to hyperventilate. She was terrified.

“Stop! What are you doing over there!” A guard exclaimed. Through the crack, Lexa saw the guard hustling towards them, but the the scared girl still hadn’t moved.

The guard had almost reached them when Lexa saw Clarke grab onto the girl’s hand and quickly pull her through the opening, barreling through it with her. Lexa moved out of the way just in time. The space wasn’t large, but the tunnel would hopefully allow for them to escape.

As soon as the door closed behind Clarke and the door, it was pitch black.

“We need to crawl quickly!” Lexa announced.

Lexa started to crawl and a moment later, the tunnel was flooded with light, the guard clearly searching for the escapees.

They were small and fast though, the guard wasn’t able to fit through to follow them.

“They’re probably just drunk, let them go,” Lexa heard echo behind her. She recognized the voice to belong to the cadet who had wanted to save the girl. Bell.

Silently, the trio crawled through the tunnel until they reached a dead end. Tentatively, Lexa pushed the panel open. She looked through the crack first, the hallway behind the panel was empty.

She slowly finished pushing the panel open and crawled out, pulling the unknown girl and Clarke out along with her. Recognizing the markings on the wall, she knew they were in Mecha Station, and not far from the chute to Polaris Station.

“As great as it is that we got out of there, we need to get to a shelter zone. There’s still a solar flare on the way,” Lexa announced. The other two girls nodded. “We’ll go to Polaris, the guards on duty there usually don’t check ID chips.”

Silently, the two girls followed Lexa down the chute.

Based on the sirens going off, however, they weren’t going to get to the shelter zone in time. They needed to find some kind of shelter though, so she took a quick turn down a hallway she’d never been before in search of a window-less room they could ride out the flare in.

It took several tries until Lexa finally found a door that would open for her, but as soon as she did, she pulled Clarke and the girl inside, quickly shutting and locking the door behind her.

“Thank you,” the girl spoke as soon as they caught their breath.

“Yeah, whatever,” Lexa waved her off.

“I’m Clarke,” the blonde introduced herself to the girl who was finally pulling off her mask. “And Miss Congeniality over there is Lexa.”

“Octavia,” the girl responded.

Lexa registered that the girl’s name was Octavia, but wasn’t actively paying attention to the conversation going on behind her. Instead, she was focused on the contents of the room she’d just entered. Computers and screens lined the walls.

She tried to read what they said, but most of it was gibberish. She saw ALIE 2.0 written in several places, but it was a list on one screen that caught Lexa’s attention.

She couldn’t believe what she was seeing, so she carefully approached the screen. At the top of the monitor was the heading, “Viable Vessels/Nightbloods,” followed by a list of names. It didn’t take Lexa very long to find her own - Lexa Woods.

“Lexa, what is this room?” Lexa heard Clarke asked. At the sound of Clarke’s voice saying her name, Lexa turned around to face her.

“I have no idea.”

**Author's Note:**

> Can't wait to hear what you all think so far and any theories you have!
> 
> madgirlbackhome.tumblr.com


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